BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH (Curriculum Vitae)

NAME: Chiudzu, Grace Mary (NEE: Lupiya)

PERMANENT ADDRESS: Mponda Village, T/A Mduwa, Mchinji

CORRESPONDENCE ADDRESS: Area 12/529, P.O. Box 1968, Lilongwe

CONTACT DETAILS (email and telephone numbers) chiudzug@yahoo.co.uk chiudzug@gmail.com

0888962561/0999962561

EDUCATION/TRAINING (arrange in chronological order, starting with the most recent)

Completion
DEGREE
Date FIELD OF STUDY
INSTITUTION AND LOCATION (if applicable)
MM/YYYY

Kamuzu Academy A-Levels 07/1987 A-Levels

St. Andrews University (Scotland, UK) BSc 07/1990 Medical Sciences
St. Mary’s Hospital, University of London
12/1992 Pathology
(London, UK)
Malawi College of Medicine (Blantyre, Malawi) MBBS 04/1994 Medicine
Kamuzu Central Hospital (Lilongwe, Malawi) Internship 03/1996 Medicine
King Edward VIII Hospital, University of Natal
(Durban, South Africa) FCOG 12/2001 Obstetrics & Gynaecology

Positions

05/94-03/96 Medical Intern, Kamuzu Central Hospital (Lilongwe, Malawi)

04/96-04/98 Medical Officer, Department of Obstetrics & Gynaecology, Kamuzu Central Hospital
(Lilongwe, Malawi)

5/98-12/01 Junior and Senior Registrar, Obstetrics & Gynaecology, King Edward VIII Hospital,
University of Natal (Durban, South Africa)

01/02-02/08 Chief Obstetrician and Gynaecologist and Head of Department, Kamuzu Central Hospital,
Lilongwe, Malawi. During this time, I championed the construction of Ethel Mutharika
Maternity wing and Bwaila Maternity wing

02/08-06/11 Managing Director and Obstetrician and Gynaecologist, Mlolera Womens Health clinic,
Lilongwe

01/11 – 06/17 Chief Obstetrician and Gynaecologist and Head of Department, Kamuzu Central Hospital
Lilongwe, Malawi. During this time I Initiated the commencement of the MMED postgraduate
training, under College of Medicine, in Obstetrics and Gynaecology at Queen Elizabeth and
Kamuzu Central Hospitals. We have successfully graduated two specialists last September
2017.

02/14-6/14 Interim Hospital Director, Kamuzu Central Hospital (Lilongwe, Malawi)

10/13 - Date Clinical lecturer, University of Malawi College of medicine.

06/17 – Date Chairperson of the newly formed College of Physicians and Surgeons of Malawi (CPSM)
Areas of expertise

 Providing general and specialized services in obstetrics and gynecology including operations
 Mentorship (students both clinical and nursing, interns, and postgraduate students)
 Clinical and administrative management
 Research

Honors and Awards

2002 Award of Excellence for the Postgraduate Thesis “Cost Effectiveness in the Management of
Uncomplicated Spontaneous Abortions (University of Natal, King Edward Hospital, Durban,
RSA. )

Seminars and Workshops

06/02 HPTN Colposcopy training (Norfolk, USA)
02/04 Good Corporate Governance, Malawi Institute of Management (Lilongwe, Malawi)
08/04 PACTG/FXB Internal Clinical Training (Washington DC, USA)
10/04 Antiretroviral Therapy Training, National Research Council (Lilongwe, Malawi)
09/06 Cancer in Africa (London, UK)
08/12 Ultrasound in Obstetrics and Gynaecology (Denmark)
09/12 XXI FIGO World Congress of Gynecology & Obstetrics (Rome, Italy)
04/13 CREOG and APGO meeting (Phoenix, USA)
10/13 FIGO Conference for Africa (Addis Ababa, Ethiopia)
02/14 The 1000+ OBGYN Project: Eliminating Preventable Maternal and Neonatal Morbidity &
Mortality (Accra, Ghana)
10/15 XXI FIGO World Congress of Gynecology & Obstetrics (Vancouver, Canada)
- Panel presenter: Ending Preventable Stillbirth
- Poster presentation: Increased use of long-acting reversible contraception
among Malawian women after implementation of a package of family planning
interventions.
01/17 APGO Faculty Development Seminar (Hyatt Regency Indian Wells Resort, California, USA)

04/17 First European Maternal Fetal Neonatal Medicine Conference (Queen Elizabeth 2
Conference Centre, Westminster, London)
04/17 Scientific Conference in Obstetrics and Gynaecology (Capital Hotel, Lilongwe)

Professional Societies and Public Advisory Committees

1994-present Medical and Dental Council of Malawi
2001-present Fellow, College of Obstetrics and Gynaecology of South Africa (FCOG)
2001-2004 Member, Committee for the National Guidelines and Training Manual for Safe Motherhood
2002-2005 Member, Malaria in Pregnancy Taskforce
2004-2006 Member, Advisory Council for Cervical Cancer Screening Programme
2002-2005 Chairperson, Diocese of Lilongwe Health Commission
2003-2006 Chairperson, Kamuzu Central Hospital Blood Transfusion Committee
2003-2006 Member, Medical Council of Malawi
2006-2009 Vice Chairperson, Medical Council of Malawi
2012-2014 Chairperson, Nurses and Midwives Council of Malawi
2012-2014 Chairperson, National Committee on Confidential Inquiry into Maternal Death
2013-present Member, National Malaria Advisory Committee
2014-2015 Interim Hospital Director, Kamuzu Central hospital
2015-2016 Member of the task force policy brief on increasing contraceptive uptake in adolescents
Fields of Specialty

I am currently studying PhD with University of Malawi College of Medicine in Preterm birth looking at the
association of preterm birth and nutrition.

Peer- Reviewed publications

1. Causes of Preterm Birth: As noted previously, I have a strong interest in research to determine the causes
of preterm birth in Malawi. Therefore, I was involved in a qualitative study to evaluate attitudes and knowledge
regarding preterm birth. We performed six focus group discussions comprised of community health workers,
patient couples, midwives, and clinical officers from two rural health centers that refer to Kamuzu Central
Hospital. We found that all participants knew of women who had experienced a preterm birth and that there
was no evident preference for the route of progesterone for the prevention of recurrent preterm birth.
1. Levison J, Nanthuru D, Chiudzu G, Kazembe PN, Phiri H, Ramin SM, Aagard KM. Qualitative
assessment of attitudes and knowledge on preterm birth in Malawi and within country framework of
care. BMC Pregnancy and Childbirth 2014;14:123. PMID: 24690288.

2. Prevention of Maternal Mortality and Morbidity: Malawi has one of the highest maternal mortality ratios in
the world. Therefore, I have been involved in a number of publications focused on strategies to decrease
maternal mortality in Malawi. In particular, I was a co-author on a study that utilized a mathematical model to
estimate the effect of three potential packages of interventions to decrease maternal death from postpartum
hemorrhage or sepsis after delivery. We found that community provision of misoprostol and antibiotics to
reduce maternal deaths from postpartum hemorrhage and sepsis could be a highly effective addition to health-
facility strengthening in Africa.1 I was also involved in writing a Commentary regarding the high maternal
mortality ratio in Malawi and the need for obstetricians and other healthcare providers to advocate for our
patients and work together to decrease our high death rate.2 Finally, my postgraduate thesis was focused on
comparing resource utilization and morbidity between two different strategies for operative treatment of
incomplete abortions as unsafe abortion care is another major cause of maternal mortality and morbidity in
Malawi.3
1. Pagel C, Lewycka S, Colbourn T, Mwansambo C, Meguid T, Chiudzu G, Utley M, Costello
AM. Estimation of potential effects of improved community-based drug provision to augment
health-facility strengthening on maternal mortality due to post-partum haemorrhage and
sepsis in sub-Saharan Africa: an equity-effectiveness model. Lancet 2009;374(9699):1441-
8. PMID: 19783291.
2. Meguid T, Mshelia S, Chiudzu GM, Kafulafula G, Masache E. The obstinate maternal
mortality ratio for Malawi: an Insult beyond the obstetrician! ‘A Cri de Coeur.’ Malawi Med J
2007;19(1):9-10. PMID: 23878624.
3. Chiudzu G. Comparing resource utilization and morbidity in incomplete abortions between
performing curettage in the theatre and manual vacuum aspiration designated room, 2002.
(Postgraduate Thesis,University of Natal, King Edward Hospital, Durban, RSA. Unpublished)
4. AIMS Trial principal site investigator – Multicentre trial looking at using antibiotics for post
abortion sepsis. Results awaiting publications.

3. Prevention of Maternal-to-Child-Transmission of HIV: Through my service on multiple national guidelines

committees, I have been involved in the development of 2 guidelines focused on the prevention of maternal-to-
child-transmission of HIV in Malawi.1,2 I was also a Co-Author on a publication from the Breastfeeding,
Antiretrovirals, and Nutrition (BAN) study in Malawi that focused on nurses’ implementation of an infant-feeding
counseling protocol within the BAN study to counsel HIV-infected women to exclusively breastfeed for 24
weeks postpartum and then to stop breastfeeding within an additional 4 weeks. We found that the nurses were
able to implement the protocol as designed with an adherence level of 90% of above.3
1. Guidelines for the use of Antiretroviral Therapy in Malawi, Third Edition. Malawi Ministry of Health, April
2008: Lilongwe, Malawi.
2. Malawi’s five year scale up plan for the prevention of mother to child transmission of HIV, Third Edition.
Malawi Ministry of Health, 2008: Lilongwe, Malawi.
 3. Ferguson YO, Eng E, Bentley M, Sandelowski M, Steckler A, Randall-David E, Piwoz EG, Zulu C,
Chasela C, Soko A, Tembo M, Martinson F, Tohill BC, Ahmed Y, Kazembe P, Jamieson DJ, van der
Horst C; UNC Project BAN Study Team, Adair L, Ahmed Y, Ait-Khaled M, Albrecht S, Bangdiwala S,
Bayer R, Bentley M, Bramson B, Bobrow E, Boyle N, Butera S, Chasela C, Chavula C,
Chimerang'ambe J, Chigwenembe M, Chikasema M, Chikhungu N, Chilongozi D, Chiudzu G, et al.
Evaluating nurses’ implementation of an infant feeding counseling protocol for HIV-infected mothers:
The BAN study in Lilongwe Malawi. AIDS Education and Prevention 2009;21(2):141-155. PMID:
19397436.

4. Women’s Reproductive Health: As an Obstetrician Gynaecologist, I also have a vested interest in

improving women’s gynaecological and reproductive health. In particular, I have been interested in improving
Malawian women’s access to cervical cancer screening and family planning services. I was a Co-Author on a
study that reviewed cervical specimens from our Obstetrics & Gynaecology Department at Kamuzu Central
Hospital over a 1 year period of time and which found that HIV infection was strongly associated with having a
diagnosis of CIN2 or higher. Therefore, we advocated for expanding Malawi’s cervical screening guidelines so
that HIV-infected women less than 30 years of age would be eligible for earlier screening. 1 I have also been
involved in a study to increase uptake of long-acting reversible contraception (LARC) at a local health center
that refers to Kamuzu Central Hospital. We found that our package of community-based interventions and
provider training and mentoring was able to increase the proportion of LARC users from 4.9% to 12.5% when
we compared LARC use the year before and after implementation of our package.
1. Kohler RE, Tang J, Gopal S, Chinula L, Hosseinipour MC, Liomba G, Chiudzu G. High rates of cervical
cancer among HIV-infected women at a referral hospital in Malawi. Int J STD AIDS 2015 June 30 [Epub
ahead of print]. PMID: 26130691.
2. Tang J, Lemani C, Kamtuwanje N, Chirombo J, Chikosi L, Phoya A, Bonyonga T, Mwale M, Chiudzu
G, Speizer I. Increased use of long-acting reversible contraception among Malawian women after
implementation of a package of family planning interventions (Abstract). Int J Obstet Gynecol
2015;131(Suppl 5):E392.

Attributes

Hardworking
Results orientated
Passion for serving the disadvantaged and marginalized.

References:
Dr Peter Kazembe
Baylor College
Lilongwe Campus
0888822447

Dr Charles Mwansambo
Ministry of Health
Lilongwe
0888826946